Commercial Exploitation of Space Resources Under the `Moon Treaty'

The advancement of space technology over the last few decades has aroused in private enterprise an interest in exploiting space resources. The necessary legal structure regulating space activity is still being developed by international organizations, primarily the United Nations, with the help of its member States. The negotiations that led to the Moon Treaty, as yet unratified by any space power, suggest that nations are willing to make some concessions to the realization that the Moon and space will remain primarily objects for dreaming unless accommodations are made to various interests. Private enterprise has the opportunity to take advantage of this environment to help break the current log-jam in development and help influence policy makers to allow for further exploitation by, and profit for, private enterprise.